Method and apparatus for binding paper sheets and similar materials

ABSTRACT

A method of assembling and permanently binding a plurality of sheet-like materials includes assembling the sheets to be bound on a guide member by passing aligning pins on the guide member through aligned openings formed in the sheets, so that the adhesive on one sheet bonds to the inner edge of another adjacent sheet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates generally to document handling, and moreparticularly to an improved method and apparatus for permanently bindinga plurality of paper sheets and similar sheet-like materials.

2. General Background

The collection of papers, photographs and similar materials into apermanently bound volume is performed on numerous occasions and in awide variety of venues in the home, office and school. This activity hasincreased significantly as a result of the widespread use of computersand their associated printers that can produce text and visualinformation, such as photographs, graphs, charts, tables, dataprintouts, drawings and the like, both rapidly and at a low cost.

It is often desirable or necessary to collect related sets of suchdocuments in a binder, volume or the like. For example, sales reportsand financial data sheets produced by a computer are often collectedtogether in some form, such as in a loose leaf binder, for later easyreference. Similarly, the amateur photographer often desires to collecta group of photographs, such as those taken during a vacation, in abound volume. However, the loose leaf binder in which the collecteddocuments can be inserted and removed, and thus lost or damaged, may notbe suitable for use in many situations in which a permanently boundvolume of documents is more desirable.

The numerous prior attempts to achieve a permanently bound collection ofpapers and other documents are indicated in the many issued UnitedStates patents in this field of activity. Typical of this prior art areU.S. Pat. Nos. 3,940,904; 5,678,861; 5,683,111; 5,836,615; 5,692,866;5,727,816; 5,437,476; and 5,791,690.

There are, however, numerous drawbacks with the prior approaches to thisproblem, the more significant including the high cost and complexity ofthe equipment required, which makes the prior art binding techniquesunsuitable for most home and office binding operations. In others of theprior art systems for binding sheet-like materials, accurate alignmentof the bound sheets may be difficult to achieve, and in yet others thereis the possibility of the volume not remaining bound permanently, whichcould result in a loss or damage to the loosened documents. In addition,many of the previously binding systems are only suitable for use inbinding sheets having certain dimensions or only with certain materials.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a methodof binding paper or similar sheet-like materials into a permanentlybound volume, which can be used with papers of varying dimensions andwith a wide variety of types of document.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method ofpermanently binding papers in a relatively simple and inexpensive mannerthat does not require the use of complex and costly apparatus.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of thetype described which is useful in binding together a large number ofcomputer printouts and similar documents.

In the method of the invention, each paper or sheet to be bound isprovided along one edge with an adhesive strip initially covered with areleasable protective strip or cover. Each sheet is also provided withaligning openings along the same edge. To assemble these documents intoa permanently bound volume, the protective strip is removed from thesheet. The sheet is then placed over an alignment guide, which includesalignment members in registration with the alignment openings in thepaper. The sheet as thus positioned lies over a previously positionedsheet and can adhere to it by means of the adhesive strip along itsinner edge adhering to the inner edge of the underlying (or overlying)paper. The process is repeated until a volume containing the desirednumber of sheets adhered to one another is formed. In one embodiment ofthe invention herein described, the alignment guide is in the form of aguide board that includes a number of upstanding rods or pegs that arepositioned on the base of the board to align with the aligning openingsin the papers.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To the accomplishment of the above and such further objects as mayhereinafter appear, the present invention relates to a method forpermanently assembling a plurality of sheet-like materials into a boundvolume, substantially as defined in the appended claims and as describedin the following specification as considered with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevation of a sheet of paper showing the partial removalof the releasable protective strip in accordance with one step in themethod of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective of a guide board that may be used in theperformance of the method of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective illustrating the placement of a sheet of paperover the guide member of FIG. 2, in accordance with another step of themethod; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective, partly broken away, of a volume of paper sheetsbound together by the method of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS.1-4, there is shown in FIG. 1 a typical sheet of paper 10, which can beused to form a bound collection or volume of such documents inaccordance with the invention. It will be understand that the method ofthe invention may be used with a wide variety of sheet-like materials ofvarying sizes and shapes other than paper, such as cloth, and may be inthe form of, for example, computer printouts, photographs, graphs,printouts and the like.

A strip 12 of a pressure-sensitive adhesive is arranged by any knowntechnique over one, here the left, edge of the sheet 10 and a releasableprotective layer or strip 14 is removably secured to the adhesive strip12 to prevent the adhesive strip from bonding to another sheet until theprotective layer is removed. As shown, alignment holes 16, here shown asthree in number and equally spaced, are formed in sheet 10 and inadhesive strip 12, and optionally in protective strip 14 as well. Thepresent invention provides a reliable and simple means for assembling aplurality of sheets 10, as modified in the manner shown in FIG. 1, intoa permanently bound collection or volume, as shown in FIG. 4.

To this end, the loose, individual sheets 10 are assembled on a guideboard 18, one embodiment of which is shown in FIG. 2. As therein shown,guide board 18 includes a base 20 to which a plurality of upwardlyprojecting guide pins 22 are secured at their lower ends. The locationand spacing of the guide pins 22 are the same as that for the alignmentopenings 16 in the sheet 10 and adhesive strip 12.

To assemble the sheets 10 into the bound volume shown in FIG. 4, thesheets are, as shown in FIG. 3, individually placed on the guide board18 after the removable protective strip 14 has been removed from thesheet. The placement of a sheet on the guide board 18 is effected bypassing the alignment holes 16 in each sheet over the correspondinglyspaced guide pins 22 of the guide board 18. In this manner, the inneredges of the collected sheets 10 are accurately aligned with oneanother, and the adhesive strip 12 b on the inner edge of the sheet 10 bthat was most recently placed over the guide pins 22 aligns with theinner edge and with the adhesive strip 12 a on the previously arrangedsheet, such as sheet 10 a in FIG. 3.

The process is repeated for each sheet to be assembled and bound, andpressure is then applied to the assembled documents by any suitablemeans to cause the adhesive strip 12 on one sheet, say sheet 10 a, toadhere to the underside inner edge of the immediately overlying sheet,here sheet 10 b. The result is, as shown in FIG. 4, a permanently boundcollection of sheets 10, which may, as shown, be encased within a cover24 of a suitable rigid material.

It will be understood from the foregoing description of a preferredembodiment of the invention, that the collection of a plurality ofsheets and documents can be assembled and permanently bound in areliable, simple, and cost-effective manner. It will be furtherunderstood that modifications may be made to the embodiment specificallydescribed without necessarily departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

1. A method for assembling a plurality of sheet-like articles in apermanently bound collection, said method comprising the steps of: a)providing on at least one surface of the articles to be bound anadhesive strip along an inner edge thereof, b) providing a plurality ofspaced alignment openings adjacent said inner edge; c) placing one at atime the articles on a guide member that includes a plurality ofaligning elements located and spaced in correspondence with the locationand spacing of said alignment openings, said placing step includingpassing said openings in the article over said aligning elements,whereby the adhesive strip of the article arranged on the guide membercontacts and adheres to the inner edge of an underlying articlepreviously arranged on said guide member; and d) repeating steps a) toc) for additional sheet-like articles that are to be bound, thereby toform a bound collection of such articles.
 2. The method of claim 1, inwhich said guide member includes a base and said aligning elementsinclude a plurality of aligning pins projecting upwardly from said base.3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of, prior to stepa), of removing a protective strip previously removably secured to thesheet-like article over said adhesive strip.
 4. The method of claim 1,in which said alignment openings are formed through said adhesive stripand the underlying edge portion of the sheet.